Logging Keys
by Crysania
Summary: Snoke needs Rey to spy on Ben. She finds out some things she never expected to find. Originally inspired by a conversation in the Writer's Den and begun for the 11/22 Fridays with Flydam prompt of "embrace." Rated M for language.


Rey's been working IT at _Snoke!_ Magazine for nearly five years and this is the first time she's been pulled into Snoke's office. She tries to stay out of his way. There's something unsettling about him. It might be the cold blue eyes, or the way his skull seems to be split down the middle, a product, she's been told, of an accident when he was in his teens. But it might also be the way he simply seems to know _everything_.

And so being pulled into his office can't be a good thing.

Most people who go in, never come out.

Okay yes, she's being dramatic. They do come out, usually with a box and a pink slip and a lot of tears that don't seem to affect the unfeeling bastard.

So she figures…this is it. She's done something to catch his ire. She knew it would come sometime. She just hoped…well…not so soon.

Despite Snoke's total assholishness, she actually _likes_ working there.

She glances at the reason for that as she's heading into the office. Ben Solo, Snoke's Personal Assistant. He's handsome in one of those ways that you don't notice at first. Oh, you notice how tall he is, how broad. You probably even notice that he has hair ] that's better than yours. But his facial features are slightly off. Long crooked nose, eyes that might be a little too narrow, lips a little too plush, sharp cheekbones. And yet…one day she's looking at him and she realizes that yes she really _would_ like to have him sweep everything off his desk and have his wicked way with her.

Stupid fantasy.

She'll never get to live it out now. Not if Snoke fires her.

"Mr. Snoke will see you now," Ben says in that deep voice of his that _does_ things to her. He doesn't even look up at her as she passes. Shame, that. She might have liked to lock eyes with him one more time before she gets canned.

"Ah, Miss Jackson," Snoke says as she enters his office. He's seated behind an absolutely massive desk. Oak and trimmed with what she guesses is _real_ gold, it's as intimidating as he is. "Please do have a seat."

She steps gingerly into the room and sits perched on the edge of one of the chairs.

"You can relax, child," he says, and his voice sounds strangely kind. "You're not in trouble."

She feels her shoulders slump a little. "I…I'm not?"

He narrows his eyes on her. "Should you be?"

"What? No. It's just…"

"Everyone who comes out of here doesn't come out," he finishes for her. "Of course. No, I've called you in here for another reason." And here he leans forward. "Tell me what you know of my Personal Assistant?"

"Ben?" This is about Ben? Or about her and Ben. Not that there _is_ a her and Ben, except in the fantasies that she has shared with absolutely no one.

"Yes, that would be the one."

"Not much," she says with a shrug. "He keeps pretty well to himself."

Snoke nods. "I fear his work has been…lacking…shall we say?"

"Lacking?"

"Oh, yes. He's distracted. I want to know why."

Rey blinks. "I don't understand. I work in IT. I'm not a counselor."

"Of course not. I'm not asking for that level of details." And then he leans forward, one long skeletal hand pushing something across the table to her.

She stares at.

"Go ahead. Take it. It won't harm you."

She picks it up and glances down at it. It's a CD, one of the ones that you burn yourself. There's nothing on it, but Snoke looks a bit like the cat that ate the canary. "What is this?" she finally asks.

"I want you to watch him," Snoke says.

"Watch?" She turns around, toward the door, and then back.

"Not _literally. _I thought you were smarter than that."

"Then…" She glances down at the CD in her hand. Electronically, she realizes. He wants her to keep an eye on his activities. "Is this…"

"Key logging software, yes. I expect you to install it on Mr. Solo's computer tonight after he leaves. And then…monitor his activities."

"Isn't that illegal?" Rey's sure it is. It's not illegal _to_ use such software, but she's pretty sure employees not only have to be informed, but have to sign consent forms. It shouldn't surprise her, really, that Snoke would resort to such measures. He's known for being cutthroat, and he's known for skirting the law whenever he gets a chance. _Snoke! _has been sued more times than she can keep track of.

"Tell me. Miss Jackson, do you like your job? Do you like living in the States?"

"Well…yes…of course…"

"Then you'll do as I ask or face the consequences." She knows what he means. Losing her job, going back to the UK." I expect a report in one week's time." He leans forward then, hands steepled together. "I want to know what my assistant finds to be more important than assisting me."

* * *

It's nearly ten past 7:00pm when Ben finally leaves the office. Rey stares at the CD. It's been sitting on her desk all afternoon just waiting for Ben to leave so she can do her dirty work. She feels awful. It's not like she's had much communication with him. She's occasionally fixed his computer, shared a terse hello in the lunch room.

But for the most part, Ben Solo has ignored her.

And now she's going to see every last thing he types on his computer. E-mails sent to Snoke and their clients. Passwords. And whatever else is keeping him too busy to see to all of Snoke's needs. She's not sure if she hopes to find something…or hopes she doesn't.

It's such an invasion of privacy.

She really should do some research on all of this. She's the one installing the program. Knowingly installing the program when it could very well be illegal. She feels forced to do it, but still, if she's a part to illegal activities, she could lose her job. And if she loses her job, she could lose her Visa, but still…she should report him instead? Shouldn't she?

_You know what will happen, Rey. They'll brush it under the rug as soon as he offers a bit of money._

And she'd still be without a job and without a Visa.

It's a lose-lose situation.

And so she waits, bides her time.

Ben packs up and heads out at 7:00pm.

She waits a bit, stands at the window to watch as he climbs into his car and drives off.

And then she waits a few more minutes, just to make sure he doesn't come back.

Granted, she's IT. She's in charge of the computers. She would easily tell him she's doing some sort of updates. But really, Rey is not very good liar. And so it's better if she just does it with no one around.

It's an easy enough program to install. She has the sister program already up on her laptop. And so she types a few words and then logs in to see those same words showing up in a file with the day's date on it.

"It's done," she mutters, logging off his laptop and closing it down. She's left no trace. He won't know it's there. The software is meant to be hidden, worming its way into every program. Even bringing up the task manager won't tell him it's there.

It's nearly foolproof.

Except for the human side of it.

Rey.

Because part of her wants to track down where Ben lives and go to him and warn him of what she's done. She won't, of course, for fear of retaliation and for everything it would to do her life. And that really makes her feel worse about it all.

_You are the lowest of the low, Rey._

She has never hated anyone in her entire life.

Today, she most definitely hates Snoke.

* * *

It's the next day and she logs into the software to see what Ben might have been doing.

The first part is pretty standard.

Logging into e-mail. She deletes his password information.

Calendar records.

An e-mail to Snoke.

Another one to one of their clients.

Pretty boring stuff, frankly, and she breathes a sigh of relief.

At least, she does until she gets to just before lunch. She can see he's clicked on a bunch of websites. _Fanfiction?_ That's a surprise. But really what _does_ she know of Ben Solo anyway? He's built like a brick shithouse and she'd really like to ask him about his hair care regime.

And that's it.

So she reads his next bit with great interest. Because it's clearly not work-related.

_There are days when he thinks that she might be in love with him. He catches her watching him, looking away when he notices. He tries to smile ,but he's not used to it. It doesn't look right on his face. Frankly, his face… backspace But she never looks at him like he's anything less than good or interesting. EnterHe has fantasies. He's a red-blooded male, so of course he does. But they're all…soft…somehow. He wants to take her to dinner. He wants to show her his home and the painting he bought last year. Enter_

"Oh fuck," she mutters. He's writing stories. Fanfiction, apparently, though he doesn't yet mention the characters names so she's not sure who she's writing for. And it's not _bad_. A little maudlin, but not bad at least.

She skims through the rest. Still no clue what fandom it's for. He uses "he" and "she", and she supposes that's all anyone in the fandom would need.

He spends a _lot_ of time on it and she realizes _this_ is what he's doing instead of monitoring Snoke's calendar 24/7.

She has no idea how to tell Snoke of his assistant's hobby.

* * *

The next day is much the same.

More fanfiction taking up his time.

She finds out the main female character is named Kira and only after he _finally_ has the characters meet up and she says his name does she realize it's for _Space Wars_. Of course he'd be into that. But she _is_ surprised to find out that he writes such, well, "shippy" stories. Most guys who do it, and they really are few and far between, go for action. They leave the romance to the women.

Ben catches her watching him that afternoon, and his eyebrows shoot up.

And all she can think about is that damned story he wrote. _He catches her watching him…_

* * *

Day 3…much of the same.

_Kira doesn't know he exists. She tends to walk past him with barely a nod, as if he's not worth the time. That day she's wearing a pretty purple sweater and a black A-line skirt. Her legs go on for miles. She gives him odd looks sometimes. He doesn't know why._

_But he sits there and wonders if she can read his mind, tear out his thoughts and know how desperately he's in love with her._

She glances down at her own purple sweater and A-line skirt and lets out a little gasp.

When she looks up, her eyes meet Ben's and his eyes are wide. She doesn't look away this time and instead smiles. His face turns red and he looks back down at his lap. Oh yes, he's definitely using her as inspiration. That's…interesting.

* * *

Day 4…he kicks right off with his habit.

_Chapter 4 of my new fic, Bound By the Light is now posted!EnterEnterIn this chapter Kira and Ren grow closer and an enemy threatens to end them once and for . She's watching him again and this time he does something about it. He stands and walks to her, stans over her desk. She looks so small there, sitting at it. Small and inconsequential. And yet she's EVERYTHING. backspace"Hello Rey"backspaceKira," he says_.

Her eyes fall on her name.

They don't move from it.

He'd slipped up.

He'd called the main character by_ her _name.

And she can't look away.

When he abruptly shifts in tone, she realizes she's reading an instant message. A personal instant message. She should look away, but she can't.

_I don't know. I want to tell her. But I can't even get up the nerve to talk to her unless I break something. EnterNo, I'm not going to break something. EnterYes, I know its just tech. Enterit's*EnterRey is special. She glows with a sort of inner light that makes me want to gravitate around her. EnterShove off, Poe._

And then he switches back into the story. Which gets…steamy, is too nice of a word really. It's straight up _porn_. And it's clear he doesn't really know what women like. Or at least what _she_ likes. That's a shame, but maybe she could teach him. He seems smart. She's sure he could learn.

_Yes I have feelings for her. Fuck off, Poe. Seriously. I'm not telling her_.

And it's this last that has left her chilled to the bone and yet feeling hot at the same time. He has _feelings_ for her. For _her_. For Rey. This isn't fanfiction he's writing, not really. It morphed into his fantasies somewhere along the line.

She can't report this to Snoke. _Oh so you're Personal Assistant? He has the hots for me and he's spending all day writing up his fantasies_.

She's not even sure what to do with the information herself.

* * *

Day 5…and she spends most of the day staring at him. He's still writing furiously at his computer and she doesn't doubt that she'll get another eyeful of what exactly he apparently wants to do with her.

She can't deny that it's kind of…flattering…in a weird way.

He turns to look at her every once in awhile, as she passes maybe a little too close to her desk. She wears another A-line skirt that day, and wonders if it sets his fantasies aflame.

When she logs in after he's gone for the day, she's still surprised at the content.

_I want to tell her. I do. But I can't. She'd laugh. Just look at her. She's calm and cool and collected in everything she does. Even Snoke admires her. He won't say it, that's not his way. But he does. Everyone Why don't I ask her out?EnterHave you seen me?EnterOk fine. I'm a scaredy-cat. I know I am. But what if she laughs at me?EnterShe could._

He turns back to his fanfiction then, detailing another sexual encounter between the main characters. And Rey finds…it's hot. Maybe not perfectly orchestrated and she really should teach him what she likes. But still, it's _hot_. Her hand is snaking down underneath her skirt before she can even think about it.

She gets off that evening to thoughts of Ben Solo bending her over his desk and having his way with her. She's almost ashamed over it.

_Almost_.

She really needs to talk to him.

* * *

Snoke wants the report on Monday. She's supposed to write it up, include important snippets of what she found on his computer. Can she just claim she found nothing? That he'd been staring off into space and she worries there might actually be something wrong.

She goes back through it all again.

And then again.

It's Saturday afternoon when she makes the decision. Maybe it's the wrong one. But it doesn't _feel_ wrong.

She knows his address. It's easily obtained from the keylogging information. Maybe showing up at his house isn't the smartest thing to do, but she has to. She really needs to talk to him before the shit hits the fan.

The drive to the house is quick. He doesn't live that far away from her, she's discovered. She's at his door knocking before she can talk herself out of it.

There's a commotion behind the door, dog barking, someone shouting to get back. Ben, she assumes, but she's not used to hearing him raise his voice in such a way. And then he's standing there, the door open, the dog shoved behind him.

"Rey?" he asks. "What…what are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you," she admits.

"Talk?"

"Can I come in?" This is a bad idea. It has to be. He's going to be mortified. And angry. And what does she really know about him anyway?

"OK, yeah…um sure?" he says, stepping back and letting her step inside the house. The door slams behind her and the dog, some large black hairy mutt, rushes at her. "Hey, Chewie. Stop!" She watches as he reaches for the collar and hauls the hulking thing back.

"He's cute," Rey says.

Ben turns to stare at her. "He's a menace. But he's my best friend. He just…has no training."

She shrugs. "That's fine." She reaches down to scratch the giant dog behind the ears, and when he turns his back to her, she gives him a good butt scratch.

"Well, that's it. You're his friend for life."

"Good," Rey says.

"So …um…"

Rey nods. "Yeah. We need to talk. But you're going to want to sit down for this."

Ben's eyebrows rise. "Okay? The kitchen then?"

He gives her a quizzical look. "Okay…Sure."

She follows him down the hall and to the right, finding a nice bright kitchen at the end. It surprises her, for some reason. She expected everything in his house to be _dark_. Ben always wears dark colors at the office, black slacks, black suit jacket with a dark shirt and tie. He always looks _good_, but somber. This light, airy kitchen is not what she expects from him at all.

"It came with the place," he says in response to her surprised look. "I haven't had time to redecorate."

"Of course."

"But I kind of like it," he finally admits. "It's a good contrast, you know? To Snoke's office."

"It is. I like it."

"Good. So you…uh…wanted to talk to me?"

_No_, she wants to say. _Nevermind. I don't want to do this after all_. "Yes," she says instead. "It's about Snoke."

"Did he do anything to you?" he bursts out with, and she wants to put her hand over his much larger one.

"No. Not me." And then she levels her gaze on him. "You. It's something he's done to _you_." She pulls out her print of the keylogger files. Pages upon pages of his writing. It's all mashed together, but she's sure he'll get the point.

"What is this?"

"Just…read it."

He opens up the first page and starts skimming it. She sees the moment that he _knows_. His eyes narrow, his mouth presses together. There's a little muscle that ticks in his jaw. And then he slams it shut with such a loud bang that she jumps.

"What the fuck is this? Why would you _do_ this?" And he looks _betrayed_. Absolutely betrayed. And embarrassed. "Did you read all of this?"

"Yes," she admits.

"Fuck," he says, leaning back in his seat. "I don't understand."

"Snoke," she says. "He doesn't trust you. He thinks you're slacking."

"And so this…_this_…"

"It's keylogging software and it's exactly what you think it is."

He curses again. "Then you…"

"Yes, I know. "

He's staring at her, wide-eyed. "Are you going to give this to Snoke?"

"No," she says and she doesn't realize until that very moment that she was _not_ going to turn it over. "I can't do that to you."

"Yet you did _this_?" he says, waving a hand at the papers in front of him.

"Snoke threatened my job. He threatened to have me deported." The words are whispered.

"What?"

"I had no choice."

He's staring at her.

She's the first to look away. "I'm sorry. I hate that I read all of that…"

He slumps in his seat. "I'm so embarrassed."

"Don't be," she quickly says. "The fanfiction was actually pretty well-written. If a bit inaccurate."

"Yeah well, my experience is somewhat lacking." He shrugs. "It's been a long time. But…that's not even what I'm talking about." He levels his gaze on her. "And you know it."

And there's the elephant in the room. His feelings…

"Right…about that…" Just say it, Rey. Do it. "Maybe some time you might want to, I don't know, go out or something?"

He doesn't say anything. Just stares.

"Ben, say something."

"You know all my secrets," he mutters.

"Not all of them, I'm sure?"

"Only the worst one." He can't even look at her. "That was…Fucking Snoke!" The last comes out in a rush. "That was private information. You shouldn't know it."

"I know," she says. "I'm just…" She stands then. "I'll just go…"

She turns to leave, but is stopped by his hand on her forearm. "Were you serious?"

"About?" she says, and is surprised at the intensity in his eyes as he looks up at her.

"About going out…with me…" He voice trails off and she watches as he swallows hard.

"I was."

"Then?"

"I feel much the same," she whispers.

"You do?" And then he looks at her, really looks at her. She can feel her cheeks heat under his gaze. "Ah, you _do_." He's up on his feet and pulling her into his arms before she can even breathe. And _fuck_, but it's amazing, feeling those strong arms around her, her cheek pressed against the muscles of his chest. Oh yes, this is most definitely where she wants to be.

When he pulls back, she reaches out to take his hands in hers. "What are we going to do? About Snoke, that is?" she asks. "He'll fire me and they'll pull my work Visa."

"We doctor the file," he says quickly.

"Doctor it?"

"Sure. Take out all the personal stuff." He's sitting down to look through it, pulling her along with him. "We'll make it look like I'm looking for another job."

"He'll fire you," she whispers.

"You think I want to stay working for him?" Ben shoots back.

"No, I guess not. But…"

"You keep working for him," he says. "For now. I'm taking the original to the police. I…uh…I know people," he admits. "We'll take Snoke down. And then we'll _both_ be free."

She nods, sitting down next to him to flip through the files with him.

"I like that," she says.

"Yeah?" he asks, and when she looks at him, she sees what is probably the first true smile she's ever seen on his face. "Me too."


End file.
